THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 31, 1995 TAG: 9501310312
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Months of work spent revising the guideposts to what Virginia's school students should be taught will go to public review by early next month. And it could be a free-for-all.
The state Board of Education on Monday for the first time publicly discussed the proposed revisions to the state's ``Standards of Learning,'' which spell out what students should learn in four core academic subjects - language arts, science, math and social studies.
The so-called SOLs were last revised in 1988, and the Allen administration has made their restructuring a cornerstone of plans to reform education. William C. Bosher Jr., Gov. George F. Allen's state superintendent of schools, touted the updated standards as tougher, more measurable and easier for the public to understand.
But Bosher and local school officials who headed up the effort acknowledged that they've already received plenty of criticism.
``There is going to be a tremendous amount of debate about what ought to go in the SOLs,'' said Kris Pedersen, curriculum supervisor for Prince William County Schools, which led the effort to rewrite science standards. ``There are just reams and reams of data that could be used.''
The Virginia Education Association, a statewide teachers' group, asked the state board to delay implementing the revised standards until 1996 to give the public more opportunity to evaluate them.
Because of significant changes, especially in math and social studies, VEA officials said, teachers will need extra time to prepare to teach the new standards.
Board members offered plenty of suggestions of their own for changes. Michelle Easton, noting the controversy over ``political correctness'' that has plagued the development of national history standards, said some of the state standards contain ``a little whiff of it.''
Some of the science standards, she said, seemed to be leaning in support of ``environmental extremism.'' She said students also should learn about the Fifth Amendment guarantees against government seizure of property, referring to federal wetlands rules that have prevented some people from developing their land.
Others have charged that the Allen administration, including members of his Commission on Champion Schools, essentially rewrote the final drafts to suit their own conservative biases, ignoring the work of the writing teams and earlier public input.
Board member Malcolm S. McDonald read a letter from the superintendent of Falls Church schools who criticized the social studies and language arts standards as promoting the ``regurgitation of isolated facts'' and ``lower-level thinking skills.''
The board voted unanimously to release the proposed SOLs for public review. Bosher said 25,000 copies of each subject will be distributed to schools, public libraries and other public places by early next month. Public hearings likely will begin in March.
More scrutiny than usual is focused on the effort because Allen is pushing for legislation that would change the standards from guidelines into regulations. by CNB